Butter-fat-reading machine



Sept. 27 1927.

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 amvcutoz Filed Dec. 16. 1924 Sept. 213 1927.

- D; w. SUTHERLAND, JR

BUTTER FAT READING MACHINE Fiiea Dec. 16. 1924 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Y 21 1 ?.1643,4Z6 Y f I D. w. SUTHERLAND, JR

BUTTER FAT READING, MACHINE Filed .Dec. 16, 192 1 s Sheets-Sheet s Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

UNITED STATES DONALD w. sUrHnRLAnD, an, or siorrx FALLS, s'oUri-i DAKOTA.

BUTTER-FAT-READING llCEACIEIIINE.v

Application filed December 16, 1924. Serial No. 756,217.

This invention relates to certain .new and useful improvements in a butter fat read ng machine, and it has for its primary ob ect to provide a simple device whereby the test room operator of a creamtesting establishment may accurately and quickly read the butterfat percentages as regularly obtained in the Babcock test.

The invention resides in the'salient features of construction and the arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed reference being made, to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved machine constructed in accordance with the present invention; I

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the pointer and percentage chart as taken on line 33 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 1 is a detailed horizontal sectional view taken on line 41 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a detailed horizontal sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 1;

6 is a detailed horizontal sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 1;

T is a detailed horizontal sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. v8 is adetailed horizontal sectional view taken on line 8-6 of Fig.1.

Referring more in detail to the accompanying drawings,'a table or base 1 has rising therefrom a tubular standard 2 having a detent 2 therein, adjacent its lower end. iviounted to slide vertically within the tube is a rod 3 having a racklon its lower end adapted for engagement by a pinion 5, itself rotated, with its supporting shaft 6 journalled in the base, by a hand wheel 7.

Slidably supported on the standard 2 is a collar 8 having a laterally extending shelf or platform 9 for supporting a test bottle 10 thereon, as by the upright spring fingers 11. The collar and, consequently, the shelf are vertically adjustable on the standard, being secured ina set position by the frictional catch 12 engaging the detent 2 of the tube. The catch 12 is housed within the handle 13, as depicted in Fig. 8. A fixed pointer 14 and an adjustable pointer 15 are also carried by the standard, the pointer 15 being vertically adjustable in a manner similar to the bottlesupporting shelf. When the bottle-supporting shelf is moved vertically so as to bring the zero mark on the bottle above or below .pointer.

the stationary pointer 14, the testing apparatus is then in its inoperative position.

. Also rising from the base 1, spaced from the standard, is an upright 1 secured thereto by any suitable means, which cooperates therewith in supporting a large chart 16 and an upwardly offset smaller gaging chart 17, the latter being arranged above the shelf 9 and designed to be utilized according to the size of the test bottle. The chart 16 is secured to the upright 1 by any suitable means. An arm 18 extends from the pointer 15 across the chart 16 and slidably supports -a cooperable pointer 19 for horizontal adjustment thereacross.

The vertically adjustable, slide rod 3 projects above the upper end of the standard and has its upper end portion bent into inverted U-form, the depending free end suspending a relatively fixed plate 20 which has an inclined slot 21 there-in. An arm 22 extends laterally and downwardly from the rod 3, above the standard, and branches into a pair of horizontal,verticallyspaced pointersh28 and 24: bearing a fixed relation to each other. The plate 20 is guided in its vertical adjustments by opposing brackets 25 mounted by suitable means onthe back of the chart 16.. The latter hasv a marginal flange 26 along its upper edge and over this flange engages an inverted, substantially U- shaped carriage 27 having a pin or abutment 28 extending from the rear arm 27 thereof through the slot 21 so that when the plate is moved vertically, in the operation of setting the pointers 23 and 24, the carriagev 7 will be shifted along the marginalflange 26 accordingly. The pointer '15 is moved vertically on tube 2, which in turn shifts the pointer 19 vertically through the medium of the" rod 18. The pointer 19 is shifted horizontally by the movementof the carriage 27, which carries depending arms 29 adapted to engage with the ears 30 of the The horizontal movement of the pointer is accomplished bya carriage 27 having a pin 28 extending through an inclined slot 21 inthe vertically movable plate 20. A pairof parallel rods 29 depends froin the front portion of the carriage and engages the outer faces of the ears 30 of pointer 19, said ears being slidable on the arm 18. The

pointer body has a'plurality of resilient fin-- gers 31 pressing outwardly against the rods 29 to aid in properly holding the pointer against the chart. The lower ends of the rods areguided in a slot 32 formed in the bottom flange 32 of the chart. 1

I11 the testing of butter fat the cream is poured in special test bottles 10. The numbers appearing on the small chart 17 represent the millimeter length of the graduated portion of each test bottle. The work therefore of this machine will be seen to be this--the calculation of the relation expressed in per cent of the distance between the pointers 14 and 15 and the distance from 0 to on the graduated portion of each bottle considering the total distance as 50. If the movable platform 9 is raised so that the pointer 14 points directly at the 0 mark, as indlcated in Figure 1, then the movable pointer 24 actuated by the rack and pinion 4, 5, will point directly to the 50 mark showing that thenumber indicated by the pointer 23 011 chart 17 is the distance between the pointers 14 and 24 and expressed in millimeters.

The testing operation on the present machine herein described is as follows :After adding the reading? oil the test bottle is placed on the movable platform 9 which is then raised or lowered until the bottom of the fat column is directly opposite the stationary pointer 14. The movable pointer 15 is then placed at the top of the fat column, these two pointers acting merely as points of dividers. Rod 3, which moves pointers 23 and 24 simultaneously, is then raised or lowered until pointer23 is directly opposite the number of the small stationary chart 17 which corresponds to the number appearing onthe copper ring '33 around the test bottle at the base of the neck and which also appears etched in the glass at the very top of the column part of. the bottle, as at 34. For the purpose of illustration this number is 82. The reading may then be made from the large stationary chart 16 directly behindthe movable pointer 19. In the illus- If, in any case, the millimeter length of the graduated portion of the bottle is not stamped on the bottle in some manner, then after placing pointers 14 and 15 as before, spanning the fat column, platform 9 can be raised so that stationary pointer 14 points to 0 and the rod 3 raised or lowered so that the pointer 24 willbe directly opposite the 50 mark. The correct reading will then be found directly back of pointer 19, as before. In this same position pointer 23 will be directly opposite the number representing the millimeter length of the graduated. portion of that particular test bottle. This number ,can then be stamped on the regular copper ring around the base of the column of the bottle so that in subsequent tests the two final movement-s ofthe last described method portion of this particular test bottle.

can be eliminated and the reading made in the manner first described.

Chart 16 is of course a very essential part of the machine as on this chart the readings appear. The construction of the chart may be explained as follows. If a vertical line were droppedrthru the point of pointer 19 the length of the line from the Zero mark to the 50 mark on chart 16 would be exactly 82 millimeters; in other words, the same length as the graduated portion of this test bottle so that moving the pointer 15 up and down, which also moves the pointer 19 thesame distance, wouldbe the same effect as moving the pointer along the gradua gjeld 1e next bottle tested might have a length of '74 mm. Then by moving the knob 7, pointer I 28 would be broughtdown to 74 on chart 1? which would move the vertical carriage 27', 29, actuating pointer 19 in a horizontal movement toward theleft until the pointer 19 would be directly opposite the imaginary vertical line on chart 16 having a length of 74 millimeters from zero to the 50 mark. In other words, in chart 16 there is an unlimitednumber of vertical lines of different lengths varying from the shortest repre sented by the line at the extreme left hand side of thechart to the longest represented by the line at the extreme right hand side. The moving of the pointer19 so that it is directly in front of the line representing the -white where it remains before the operators eyes while recording. Furthermore there are no hot bottles. to hold nor are the readings obscured by oily glass surfaces as is common in the'ordinary practice.

Whatis claimed is 1. Ina butter fat reading machine, a base, a tubular standard thereon, a test-bottle supporting platform adjustable on the standard,

a fixed pointer on the latter, a vertically adustable pointer on the standard, means to hold said pointer in its adjusted position,

reading chart supported by the fixed pointer V f and standard, and a reading pointer carried by said adjustable pointer and movable over said chart when. the adjustablev pointer is shifted vertically. i

2. In a butter" base, a tubular standard thereon, a test bottle supporting platform adjustableon the standard, a fixed pointer on the latter, a vertically adjustable pointer on the stand ard, a reading chart supported by. the fixed pointer. and standard, a pointer carried by fat reading machine, a

the vertically adjustable pointer and movable therewith over said chart when the vertically adjustable pointer is shifted, and means carried by the standard and adjustable according to the length of the graduated portion of the test-bottle adapted to cooperate with the adjustable pointer to move the chart pointer in a horizontal path across the face of the chart.

3. In a butter fat reading machine, a base, a tubular standard thereon, a test-bottle supporting platform adjustable on the standard, a fixed pointer on the latter, a vertically adjustable pointer on the standard, means permitting adjustment of said pointer, a reading chart supported by the fixed pointer and standard, a pointer carried by said adjustable pointer and movable over said chart when the adjustable pointer is shifted vertically, a rod slidably adustable in the standard, a pointer carried by said rod for setting according to the graduated portion of the test bottle, and means under the control of the rod for cooperating with the adjustable pointer in operating the chart pointer.

4-. In a butter fat reading apparatus, a base, a standard rising therefrom, a chart supported adjacent the standard and having upper and lower marginal flanges, a carriage slidabl mounted on the upper marginal flange and extending downwardly across the chart, and guidingly engaging the lower marginal flange, an adjustable pointer mounted on the standard and having an arm extending across the chart and beneath the carriage, a reading pointer adjustably supported by the arm and engaged by the carriage to be actuated thereby along said arm, and means for adjusting the carriage.

5. In a butter fat reading apparatus, a base, a tubular standard rising therefrom, a chart supported adjacent the standard and having upper and lower marginal flanges, a carriage slidably mounted on the upper marginal flange and extending downwardly across the chart, and guidingly engaging the lower marginal flange, an adjustable pointer mounted on the standard and having an arm extending across the chart and the downvardly extending portion of the carriage, areading pointer adjustably supported by the arm and engaged by the carriage to be actuated thereby along said arm, a gaging chart, a pointer connected to said carriage and associated with the first mentioned chart according to the graduated portion of the test bottle, and means for adjusting the last pointer and the carriage.

6. In a butter fat reading apparatus, a base, a standard rising therefrom, a chart supported adjacent the standard and having upper and lower marginal flanges, a carriage slidably mounted on the upper marginal flange and extending downwardly across the chart and guidingly engaging the lower marginal flange, an adjustable pointer mounted. on the standard and having an arm extending across the chart and the carriage, a reading pointer adjustably supported by the arm and engaged by the carriage to be actuated thereby along said arm, a gaging chart, a pointer associated'with the latter'according to the graduated portion of the test bottle, a test bottle pointer rigid with the last-named pointer to be operated therewith, a vertically adjustable rod adapted to operate the two last-named pointers, and means carried by the rod for moving the carriage.

7 In a butter fat reading apparatus, a base, a standard rising therefrom, a chart supported adjacent the standard and having upper and lower marginal flanges, a carriage slidably mounted on the upper marginal flange and extending downwardly across the chart and guidinglyengaging the lower marginal flange, an ad ustable pointer mounted on the standard and having an arm extending across the chart and the carriage, a reading pointer adjustably supported by the arm and engaged by the carriage to be actuated thereby along said arm, a gaging chart, a pointer associated with the latter according 'to the graduated portion of the test bottle, a test bottle pointer rigid with the last-named pointer to be operated therewith, a rod for operating the two last-named pointers, and means operable by the rod for moving the carriage, said means including a plate carried by the rod and an abutment carried by the carriage and slidably engaged by the plate.

8. In a butter fat reading machine, a base,

a tubular standard thereon, a test bottle supporting platform adjustable on the standard, a fixed pointer on the standard, a vertically adjustable pointer onthe standard, a reading chart supported by said fixed pointer, a second pointer supported by the adjustable pointer and movable therewith over the chart in one direction and means to retain the pointers in their adjusted positions.

9. In a butter fat reading machine, a base, a tubular standard thereon, a test bottle supporting platform adjustable on the stand ard, a fixed pointer on the standard, an adjustable pointer on the latter, a second adjustable pointer carried by the first adjust able pointer, a chart supported by said fixed pointer, and means to shift the second adjustable pointer transversely across the face of-the chart said means including a member projecting into and slidably supported by the tubular standard.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

DONALD w. SUTI-IERLAND, JR. 

